I Know What We Did Last Summer
by Nicolette134
Summary: He was supposed to take care of her


Barry was supposed to be taking care of her.  
Before they'd even graduated, it was all mapped out. Helen and Ray were off to pursue whatever they were pursuing in New York, and Barry and Julie were headed to Boston for college. She was gonna be pre-law and he was going to be the hotshot star quarterback.  
Deep down he knew that Ray and Helen would never last in the Big Apple. They were meant for small town life- Ray would grow up to be a poor fisherman just like his old man had been and Helen would grow up to be a weather girl or something dumb and then marry someone rich and be a housewife. Helen would never last because here she was a big fish in a small pond, but there it'd be a big pond. She couldn't be a serious actress, in the end she was just another girl with a pretty face.  
He was no different. He wasn't too cocky, or too naïve, to know the truth. He'd be a star in college until some career ending injury left him with no choice but to return home and work for his father. He'd take over the business and settle down with some girl, not Helen, but someone just like her. They'd see each other around and they'd mean nothing to each other. They'd be just a memory, you know?  
Julie was better than that. She'd survive, she'd thrive, even, at their new school, and if she didn't become a lawyer she'd become something else. She'd keep in contact with Helen and Ray and try to make her relationship with the brown haired boy last, but it wouldn't. It wouldn't last and she'd be okay with that, because she was stronger than them all. After her father's death the town had been waiting with baited breath for the golden girl to fall apart, but she hadn't. She'd been fine. It'd taken time, but she'd maintained and grown. Sure, she wasn't the bright eyed, cheerleader type she'd once been, but she was okay with being the brains of the operation. The morals, the integrity, the /nice/ one, of her group of friends. She flourished.  
About a week before they left, before the accident, Ray invited Barry out for drinks. They were friends, sure, but they rarely went out without their girls, Helen and Julie had always been closer to each other than the boys had been. So, it was a little strange, but Barry figured it'd be like a last hurrah for the guys and joined him. So they went out and Ray just said it, flat out. He said, "Barry, when you two are out there, take care of her for me, okay?". Apparently Ray had know it too, deep down. Maybe he was a bit more optimistic about things than Barry, who'd always been a 'the glass is empty 'cause I drank it all' kinda guy, but he knew. Barry would have to take care of Julie if anything happened, because let's face it, bad things happen to that chick all the freaking time. Ray wouldn't be around, Helen wouldn't be around, and her mother wouldn't be around, so Barry won the job by default. Julie didn't usually let people in, so it wasn't clear what role, if any, her roommate would have in her life. If it weren't for Helen and Ray she probably would never speak to anyone, let alone Barry of all people, but he'd be all she had. It's too bad for her, really, but still.  
The issue was, he hadn't taken care of her. After that _thing_ that summer she'd been a mess. She went to school even more closed off that she'd already been and then they all sort of lost contact. He saw her around and she looked like shit, frankly. He asked around and she wasn't doing well in her classes and she wasn't making many friends; she was a mess. He was supposed to be taking care of her, but he didn't. He avoided her around campus and in the cafeteria. He never even needed to avoid her at parties cause she didn't go to any. She didn't even look like she showered much, and she only looked worse if she noticed him noticing her at any point. She looked downright sick. So one day her went up to her.  
"Julie, you can't be like this," he said, "This isn't you."  
"Killing a guy and then getting rid of the body wasn't me either," she answered, matter of factly, "Guess things change."  
After she walked away and left him there speechless, he didn't try to take care of her anymore.


End file.
